USAUSA - National football team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competition and is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. Though soccer has not traditionally had a high profile in American sporting life, the sport has steadily grown in popularity since the 1970s. The team is, according to the FIFA World Rankings, ranked 14th in the world and first in CONCACAF,[1] has appeared in the last five FIFA World Cups, and will take part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The US team's player bonus scheme for the event is the largest for any nation in World Cup history, potentially worth $20.6m, or $895,000 per man for winning.
USA - VideoUSA - NewsUSA - National football team
In 1885, the United States and Canada, at Newark, New Jersey, played the first international match held outside the United Kingdom, the match finishing 1–0 in favor of the Canadians. The following year, a reverse fixture at the same venue resulted in USA winning by the only goal of the game.[3] Thirty years later, the United States played its first official international match under the auspices of U.S. Soccer against Sweden in Stockholm, where the USA won 3-2.
The U.S. earned both silver and bronze medals in men's soccer at the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri. The tournament only featured three teams: Galt F.C. from Canada and Christian Brothers College and St. Rose Parish from the United States. Galt defeated both American teams to win the gold. Christian Brothers defeated St. Rose in a third match after two scoreless draws.
In the 1930 World Cup, the U.S. won its first match in World Cup history, beating Belgium 3–0 at the Estadio Gran Parque Central in Montevideo, Uruguay. The match occurred simultaneously with another across town at the Estadio Pocitos where France defeated Mexico.
In the next match, the United States again won 3–0, this time against Paraguay. For many years, FIFA credited Bert Patenaude with the first and third goals and his teammate Tom Florie with the second.[4] Other sources described the second goal as having been scored by Patenaude[5][6] or by Paraguayan Ramon Gonzales.[7] In November 2006, FIFA announced that it had accepted evidence from "various historians and football fans" that Patenaude scored all three goals, and was thus the first person to score a hat trick in a World Cup finals tournament.[8]
Having reached the semifinals with two wins, the American side lost 6–1 to Argentina. Using the overall tournament records, FIFA lists the U.S. as finishing in third place, above fellow semifinalist Yugoslavia.[9] This is still the team's highest World Cup finish, and it's also tied for the highest finish of any team from outside of CONMEBOL and UEFA, the South American and European confederations, respectively.
Due to FIFA not wanting interference with the newly founded FIFA World Cup no official tournament was fielded in the 1932 Olympic Games. FIFA claimed the tournament would not be popular in the United States, so it would not be cost efficient to assist in the running of the tournament during struggling economic times. As a result, an informal tournament was organized including local rivals with the United States finishing first, followed by Mexico and Canada. The Olympic Tournament was reinstated in the 1936 Olympic Games..
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GhanaGhana - National football team
The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the Black Stars, is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association. Before gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957, the country played as the Gold Coast.
Although the team did not qualify for the senior FIFA World Cup until 2006, they had qualified for five straight Olympic Games Football Tournaments when the tournament was still a full senior national team competition. The team have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times[7] (in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982), making Ghana the second most successful team in the contest's history, behind Egypt. The Olympic Team,[6] the Black Meteors, in 1992 became the first African country to win a medal at football.
Ghana - VideoGhana - NewsGhana - National football team
After going through 2005 unbeaten, Ghana won the FIFA most improved team of the year award [1] and they reached the second round of the 2006 Germany World Cup. The Ghana Amateur Football Association was founded in 1957, soon after the country's independence, and was affiliated to both CAF and FIFA the following year, Englishman George Ainsley being appointed coach of the national team.
In 1960 the Black Stars played Spanish giants Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish, European and intercontinental champions, and drew 3–3.
Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, and Ghana won successive Africa Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965, and achieved their record win, 13–0 away to Kenya, shortly after the second of these. They also reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on each occasion, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Their domination of this tournament earned the country the nickname of "the Brazil of Africa" in the 1960s[8]. The team had no success in FIFA World Cup qualification during this era, and failed to qualify for three successive African Cup of Nations in the 1970s, but qualified for the Olympic Games Football Tournaments, reaching the quarter finals in 1964 and withdrawing on political grounds in 1976 and 1980.
Ghana again won the African Cup of Nations in 1978, retaining the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy in perpetuity for having won it three times, and 1982, but a relatively barren period followed, with the full national team dominating the short lived West African Nations Cup from 1982–87, but making little progress in continent-wide competitions until the appointment of Burkhard Ziese as coach in 1991. The 1992 African Cup of Nations, after three failures to reach the final tournament, saw Ghana finish second, beaten on penalties in the final by Côte d'Ivoire.
Disharmony among the squad, which eventually lead to parliamentary and executive intervention to settle issues between two of the team, Abedi Pele and Anthony Yeboah, may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. Ghana slipped to 89th place in the FIFA World Rankings, but a new generation of players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the core of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations and the 2004 Olympic Games[6], and were undefeated for a year in 2005 and reached the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first time the team had reached the global stage of the tournament. Ghana started with a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, but wins over the Czech Republic (2–0) and USA (2–1) saw them through to the second round, where they were beaten 3–0 by Brazil. They again qualified for the 2010 World Cup finals. 2010 World Cup qualification
The Ghanaian team went on to secure a 100 percent record in their qualification campaign, winning the group and becoming the first African team to qualify for 2010 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup Draw in Cape Town on the 4 December 2009 saw the Ghanaian being placed alongside Germany, Serbia and Australia in Group D..
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